Read all the Caldecott winners and honor winners to/ with my child

Sometimes you get the right book at the right time for your child, and this was one of those. The chum was completely ready for a ancient tale of a heroic knight and an evil dragon and a fairly gory three day battle. He loved it – to the extent of taking it to school for sharing and everything. He calls it George and the Saint Dragon, which makes it all the more awesome.
It’s pretty advanced story-wise. A lot of words and a lot of fancy vocabulary – brandished, outrage, and might and main – all just on the page I opened to randomly. Plus a changeling sub-plot and some near death for our hero. Yikes!

The art is really pretty – tons of color and detail. Neat framing device on the text page with a variety of floral and mythic images. Just such beautiful book – even the horrible dragon is gorgeous although clearly evil.

Will probably end up buying this.

The final Marcia Brown book – this time an English folk tale about a orphan and his travails. I thought we might be on sort of a Puss and Boots arc with the cat, but it went in a totally different direction.

A bit texty and mature for the chum – lots of words, some of them hard to understand – and a pretty abusive character that I minimized a bit (how many times do we have to hear how Dick was beaten?) The chum was also not so sure about giving up the cat, even if it did make Dick’s fortune.

Brown sure has shown herself to be an artistic chameleon. I don’t think I’ve come across anyone else whose style has been completely different in each book. This one is in linoleum prints of yellow and black. In many situations, I wouldn’t have liked it much but with such a period story, it seemed completely appropriate and I could appreciate the detail and use of line.

A great story set in San Francisco of the 1950’s. The chum was excited to see so many landmarks he knows. The proper level of excitement plot for the chum – some tension and suspense, but not too much.

Lovely period pictures in colored pencil. We loved the full page spreads of the bay and the Golden Gate Bridge. Just a really good book.

A toddler age bedtime story – counting down to the inevitable child in bed. Not as exciting or innovative as When Sophie Gets Angry… but still sweet.

I think it was recognized in large part for being a traditional bedtime story with black characters. Definitely were not too many non-white kids being put to bed in American toddler stories in the early 80s. Every book where kids see themselves pictured on the page is a good thing.

We got this book about a year ago and the chum wasn’t quite ready for it. Now he is. An ogre who gets ticked and eaten? Excellent.

This book is ridiculously beautiful. One of those books that makes you have to go back to the list and check who was able to beat it. (David Maccauley). I mean, really – this cover just kills.

As a classic French fairy tale, done straight forwardly, I really don’t think you could do much better. Not so artsy it’s not accessible and with humor inserted in a totally appropriate way (the expression on Puss’s face on page 1!)

Love it.

Another one of those gems from the stacks. No one reads this anymore, it’s not even in circulation, but we liked it and are glad we hunted it up.

It’s a book you look and and read and know it’s from long ago. The painted pictures have a color usage that is instantly familiar from some of the picture books my grandma used to have. Beautiful but not showy.

GG put his finger on what makes a simple story, basically a twist on the ugly duckling idea, seem so old – there’s an assumption of the way the reader understands farm life and nature. You know what happens with chicks and owls – no one has to spell it out.

It seems so grounded in an agricultural past and the lack of some of the modern touches make me enjoy it in the same way I did A Tree is Nice – for not preaching some of the conventional things people seem to need to put in kids books now.

It’s Anatole Part 2 – electric boogaloo! The chum liked this one considerably less than the original, largely because of the cat factor. First, he was too worried for Anatole, but then, he was very unhappy with the trapping of the cat, even when it was clear the cat came out fine. The chum refused additional readings because “the poor cat!” and temporarily renamed one of his bedtime friends Charlemagne.

Another very cute book. And the poor cheese advice cracked me up, “GOOD but wrap it in a banana peel”.

I don’t find I enjoy Taback’s art particularily here either. But I do like this book a lot more than There Was an Old Lady….

First, it’s not grotesque, it’s just country. But the fact that it’s country of a period and place. And that there are all kinds of cool details about and joking around that make it, for me, a much more rewarding visual experience. Some good jokes too: in a newspaper, “Chelm Rabbi Knows Why Ocean is Salty” with the subheading, “It’s because of all the herring that live in the sea!”. That makes me laugh.

Second, it’s a more interesting classic chant (or whatever) than There Was an Old Lady... I like the something from nothing story. Good moral. The Old Lady? That’s just insane.

The ABCs? Again? Can’t these people think of anything else to write about?

I like these illustrations a lot. I’ve seen some of the French trade paintings that inspired it and I think Lobel did a great job capturing the feeling of them while making it kid friendly and whimsical.

The pictures completely enchanted the chum – laughing at many of them (especially U and Z) and leading to a lot of side talk about the shapes, the items that made the various body parts, and the potential life outcome of, say , a woman made of donuts.

Such a cute story. Yet another one that makes me say, “Why didn’t I know this book before?”

A simple but rich plot filled with very French details. I love that Anatole is aghast and devastated that people dislike mice and wants to regain his self-respect and honor. And the labels on the cheese – ‘Specially good, indeed.

The pictures are in the two page color/ black & white format. Not outstanding art, but well illustrated.

We all really enjoyed this. Going to look for the sequel today.